New (or non-irradiated) nuclear fuel assemblies are generally manufactured at a production site and then transported to a nuclear power station.
During transport, the nuclear fuel assemblies have to be protected in order to preserve their integrity under normal transport conditions, for the purpose of ensuring their later use in a nuclear reactor under the required conditions of safety and performance, and in order to minimize the risk of malfunction in the event of an accident in the course of transport, in particular in order to avoid dispersing fissile material and approaching conditions of criticality.
FR 2 774 800 describes a transport container for nuclear fuel assemblies comprising internal packaging delimiting two individual housings for nuclear fuel assemblies, and external packaging formed from two half-shells, the internal packaging being suspended inside the external packaging.
The object of that arrangement is to protect new nuclear fuel assemblies from impact and vibration thanks to the two nested packagings and to the means of suspension between the two packagings.
Nevertheless, that container is particularly bulky and heavy. It can be stored only horizontally on the ground and the large surface area which it occupies on the ground limits the number of containers which can be stored intermediately at the site of a nuclear power station. Its large dimensions force operators to work high above the ground, for example in order to lash down the container on a transport platform. Finally, a large number of journeys is necessary to ensure the delivery of the fuel in compliance with regulations. Those characteristics increase the cost of transporting and exploiting that type of container considerably.